January 30 Meeting Update: Public Speaking

On Wednesday, Jan. 30th we had our first public speaking forum for the the South OC chapter. For someone who stutters, we have challenges everyday, however standing up and giving a speech is incredibly difficult. Some studies have suggested that people have a greater fear of giving a speech in public than death. This class allows us to face our fears and speak amongst our peers.

Everyone who attended was ready and participated by reading a speech, book or commented on a topic for 5 to 10 minutes. What was amazing was the attendees ranged from a skilled toast master level orator down to someone who never read out loud in her life.

The most covered topic was reading with conviction. Pausing, sliding and better phonation seemed to be a key in drawing people into the topic. I think our minds want to just get through this...and reading something in a flat, mono tone voice is a great way to do this. However, being able to have the confidence to do this needs to be practiced everyday.

Think of the things you've gotten proficient at doing; cooking, golfing, pool, hiking etc. Reading out loud could be a great first step for 10 to 20 minutes a day. It's this reading out loud allows us to play with our phonation, sliding on non-feared words, pausing, continuous phonation and presence. However, it also might just be getting used to hearing our own voice.

So get uncomfortable, read aloud!

Posted by Matt